Tasers, chokeholds and restraints
Yes, it can be a claim. Force that was reasonable while a person was resisting stops being reasonable when the resistance stops. Courts have said so about a second Taser cycle, about weight on the back of a handcuffed person lying face down, and about handcuffs an officer refused to loosen. The claim is excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, brought under Section 1983. This page goes through the specific tools, the defenses, what other people have recovered, and the clocks in four states.
Force with a Taser, a neck hold, body weight or handcuffs is a claim when it was objectively unreasonable for the situation the officer faced. The test comes from Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), and it looks at the severity of the suspected crime, whether the person posed an immediate threat, and whether the person was actively resisting or trying to flee. The cases on this page apply that test to particular tools, and they share one idea: the justification for force ends when the threat and the resistance end.
It is not a claim merely because force was used or because it hurt. Officers may use reasonable force to make an arrest. What decides the case is the sequence, second by second, and that is usually on video. The general framework is on the excessive force page; this page is about restraint and less-lethal weapons.
How it happens
- The Taser after the resistance stops. A person is on the ground, or has their hands up, or is already handcuffed, and an officer fires the Taser or pulls the trigger for another cycle.
- Cycle after cycle. The Taser is fired again and again in quick succession, with no pause long enough for the person to comply with anything.
- The arm around the neck. An officer brings a person down or holds them still with an arm across the throat, or with pressure on the neck that cuts off air or blood.
- Weight on the back. A handcuffed person is held face down while one or more officers kneel, sit or press on the back and chest, and stay there after the person says they cannot breathe or goes quiet.
- Handcuffs left too tight. Cuffs are ratcheted down onto the wrist bone and left that way through transport and booking. Requests to loosen them are ignored.
- The officers who watch. Other officers stand within reach for the whole of it and do nothing to stop it.
The claim
During a stop or an arrest, the right is the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable seizures, and the standard is Graham's objective reasonableness. Since Barnes v. Felix, No. 23-1239, 605 U.S. ___ (2025), reasonableness is judged on the totality of the circumstances with no temporal cutoff, so the whole encounter is in view, not only its last second. For a person already in a jail, the claim is under the Fourteenth Amendment and requires only objective unreasonableness, not proof of the officer's intent (Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015)).
Tasers. In the Second Circuit it is clearly established that significant force, including a second Taser cycle, may not be used on a person who is no longer resisting and poses no threat. The court reinstated a jury's verdict for the plaintiff on that basis (Jones v. Treubig, 963 F.3d 214 (2d Cir. 2020)). In the Eleventh Circuit, eight to twelve Taser cycles on a man who was not resisting and was not suspected of a crime were grossly disproportionate, and the officers had no qualified immunity (Oliver v. Fiorino, 586 F.3d 898 (11th Cir. 2009)).
Prone restraint. There is no rule that holding a person face down is reasonable whenever the person resists. The inquiry is fact-specific, and a court that treats prone restraint as automatically lawful has not done the analysis (Lombardo v. City of St. Louis, 594 U.S. 464 (2021) (per curiam)).
Handcuffs. A handcuff claim turns on whether the cuffs were unreasonably tight, the degree of injury, and whether the officer should have known the force was excessive; a verbal complaint is not strictly required (Cugini v. City of New York, 941 F.3d 604 (2d Cir. 2019)). In the Third Circuit, refusing to loosen painfully tight handcuffs can be excessive force, without qualified immunity (Kopec v. Tate, 361 F.3d 772 (3d Cir. 2004)).
Chokeholds. New York has criminalized them twice over. An officer who uses a chokehold or obstructs breathing and causes serious physical injury or death commits aggravated strangulation, a class C felony (N.Y. Penal Law § 121.13-a, the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act of 2020). New York City made it a misdemeanor for officers to use chokeholds or to compress the diaphragm by sitting, kneeling or standing on the chest or back (N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 10-181), and the Court of Appeals upheld that law (Police Benevolent Ass'n v. City of New York (N.Y. Nov. 20, 2023)). New Jersey's statewide Use of Force Policy bans chokeholds and imposes a duty to intervene and to render aid. Those are criminal laws and policies, enforced by others. The civil claim remains the constitutional one, and they are evidence of what a reasonable officer knew was forbidden.
The officers who watched. All officers have an affirmative duty to intervene against constitutional violations by other officers in their presence, and whether there was a realistic opportunity is a question for the jury (Anderson v. Branen, 17 F.3d 552 (2d Cir. 1994)). See failure to intervene.
What they will argue
You were still resisting. Nearly every report describes the person as "actively resisting" up to the last moment. A body struggling to breathe under weight looks like resistance on paper. The video, the Taser's own firing log and the medical records are the reply.
Qualified immunity. An officer is shielded unless the conduct violated clearly established law (Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982)), and the Supreme Court polices that standard closely. On March 23, 2026, in Zorn v. Linton, No. 25-297, 607 U.S. ___ (2026), it reversed the Second Circuit and gave immunity to an officer who used a rear wristlock on a passively resisting protester after warnings, because no precedent placed the question "beyond debate." That is why the circuit cases above matter: Jones, Oliver and Kopec are the precedents a plaintiff points to, and the closer the facts, the weaker the defense. See qualified immunity.
Not against the NYPD under city law. New York City's 2021 law creates a right against excessive force enforceable against NYPD employees and the City as employer, including for failure to intervene, and provides that qualified immunity "is not a defense to liability" (N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-802, 8-803, 8-804). See the city law page.
Your conviction bars the claim. A standing conviction for resisting arrest or assaulting an officer brings in Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), which bars a damages claim that would necessarily imply the conviction is invalid. Force used after a person was subdued often does not imply that, but it is a question to settle before any plea.
The city is not responsible, and state law protects the officer. A municipality answers under Section 1983 only for its own policy or custom (Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978)). Under Florida state law an officer has no personal tort liability unless the officer acted in bad faith, with malicious purpose, or with wanton and willful disregard of human rights or safety (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(9)(a)). In Pennsylvania a local agency is immune from state-law damages outside a short list of negligence exceptions (42 Pa.C.S. §§ 8541, 8542). In both states the federal claim usually carries the case.
What people have recovered
Estate of Eric Garner
A chokehold death during an arrest on Staten Island in 2014. The City settled before a lawsuit was filed and admitted no liability.
Source: NYC Comptroller. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Stun gun injury
A settlement of a claim alleging a Taser strike to the eye.
Source: ABC7 New York. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Estate of Jim Rogers
A man who was repeatedly Tasered in 2021 and died the next day.
Source: WESA. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Family of Stephen Dolceamore
He died in 2020 while restrained face down and handcuffed, with officers' knees on his back. The death was ruled a homicide. No charges were brought.
Source: PBS. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Family of Scott Whitley III
A jail detainee with schizophrenia was Tasered 27 times. His death was ruled a homicide. The county admitted no liability.
Source: Prison Legal News. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
These are other people's cases, and the spread between them is the point: similar facts, very different numbers. What a case is worth depends on the injury, the evidence and the defenses. See what a case is worth and the full list on the public settlements page.
The clock
The federal claim generally runs from the day of the force. The state-law assault and battery claim has a much shorter notice period, and in a death case some of the clocks run from the death or from the appointment of the estate's representative.
| State | Federal claim, Section 1983 | State-law claim: notice | State-law claim: suit |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Three years (N.Y. CPLR 214(5); Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989)). The NYPD city-law claim is also three years (N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-806) | Notice of claim within 90 days to a city or county; in a death case, 90 days from the appointment of the estate's representative (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e(1)(a)) | One year and 90 days; wrongful death within two years of the death (§ 50-i(1)) |
| New Jersey | Two years (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2), the same for the Civil Rights Act claim, which needs no tort notice (Owens v. Feigin, 194 N.J. 607 (2008)) | Tort Claims Act notice within 90 days (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8) | No suit until six months after the notice; barred after two years (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8) |
| Florida | Four years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)) | Written claim to the agency within three years, two years for wrongful death (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)) | The agency has six months to act; suit within four years (§ 768.28(6), (14)). State-law damages are capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident (§ 768.28(5)(a)) |
| Pennsylvania | Two years (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524; Kach v. Hose, 589 F.3d 626 (3d Cir. 2009)) | Written notice to the government unit within six months (42 Pa.C.S. § 5522(a)) | Two years for assault and battery (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524(1)) |
No state notice rule applies to the federal claim (Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)), and the Florida caps do not apply to it. The New York, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania pages go through each rule.
If you were charged with resisting arrest, obstruction or assault on an officer and the case is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. See the criminal case and the civil case.
Excessive force
The general test, from the street to the cell, and how the video is read against it.
Excessive force →Failure to intervene
The officers who stood there. Each one with a realistic chance to stop it can be liable.
Failure to intervene →Mental health crisis calls
When the person restrained was in crisis, and the call was for help.
Crisis calls →Common questions
I was resisting at first. Does that end my claim?
No. The question is whether the force was reasonable at each point, on the totality of the circumstances. The Second Circuit held in Jones v. Treubig that significant force, including a second Taser cycle, may not be used on a person who is no longer resisting and poses no threat. In Lombardo v. City of St. Louis the Supreme Court rejected the idea that prone restraint is automatically reasonable whenever a person resists.
Are chokeholds illegal in New York?
New York State made it a class C felony, aggravated strangulation, for an officer to use a chokehold or obstruct breathing and cause serious physical injury or death (Penal Law 121.13-a). New York City separately made it a misdemeanor for officers to use chokeholds or to compress the diaphragm by sitting, kneeling or standing on the chest or back, and the Court of Appeals upheld that law in 2023. Those are criminal laws. The civil claim is the Fourth Amendment claim described on this page.
My handcuffs were too tight and I told no one. Do I have a claim?
Possibly. In Cugini v. City of New York the Second Circuit said a handcuff claim turns on whether the cuffs were unreasonably tight, the degree of injury, and whether the officer should have known the force was excessive. A verbal complaint is not strictly required, though it helps. Medical records of nerve or wrist injury matter most.
How long do I have?
For the federal claim: three years in New York, two in New Jersey, four in Florida, two in Pennsylvania. State-law claims have much shorter notice periods, 90 days in New York and New Jersey and six months in Pennsylvania. The table at the bottom of this page sets them out, and the deadline tool counts the days.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.